Yep. that sure looks like adult leaves of Hedera helix. It produces yellowish flowers which yellow jackets love, and black fruit that birds love. As florauk says, it can overwhelm and smother a tree. We had this growing up a flowering dogwood when we bought our house - some of the stems were almost as thick as the tree branches. I cut the stems at their base and let the ivy die - took persistence and was kind of unsightly for a while before the ivy leaves fell off, but now it's gone for the most part and the dogwood is doing much better.

Most likely it is the heat soaked engine and adjacent parts creating a "heat island" or pocket of recirculating, high temperature air during the times you have momentarily stopped traveling. This has been reported on a number of different tractors and mowers (mostly zero turn units if I remember correctly). The drafts of very hot air washing down into the grass has a blistering effect similar to a propane "weed scorcher torch" (if you have ever seen that). While it is still covered by a comprehensive factory warranty you need to complain about this to Husqvarna. There may be a factory bulletin or field fix regarding this issue.

I don't use any oils or pesticides for insect control as I grow organically. google Arbico. they specialize in beneficial insects. I ordered three praying manti egg cases. one for my yard and for my neighbors on both sides. one egg case hatches abou two hundred manti. They devour every insect you hate. and once they live out their life cycle they lay their own egg cases. so now I have an ongoing population of manti. I live an hour north of death Valley so its a desrt hot blazing summers freezing winters if my manti can stay alive year after year your area will support them as well. also consider Ladybugs these are literalyy the toughest bug in the pack they eat every single pest bug you can imagine problem is when they eat everything they move on to find more food. I even take my baby manti indoors to work over my bonsai and houseplants I leave a couple of windows open all the time for my cats to get in and out. so manti have an escape, or entrance if they choose. I grow vegetables, tobacco, fruit, housplants and bonsai. this was a permanent and inexpensive solution to my bug problem. Good Luck!!!!

I wanted to give another update to how well this plant is doing in my office window! Now that we are getting much more daylight, it is getting a lot of ambient light in the morning and some very strong sun in the afternoon hours. I have propagated it three times already, cutting about a 2.5-3" segment and placing it in the soil around the edges. My goal is to fill the pot at the soil level and let it begin to spill around the sides. The two older cuttings have both quickly rooted and the cut area of the main plant has branched off with two new directional shoots. The third cutting (only a few days old) is right on the same track!